Skein holder



1952 H. J. MAXFlELD SKEIN [HOLDER Filed Aug. 10, 1950 INVENTOR. HEN/Pr J MflXF/EAD BY W *ifi L AT RNEYS Patented Jan. 15, 1952 -UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SKEIN HOLDER Henry J Maxfield, Westerville, Ohio Application August 10, 1950,, Serial No. 178,621

4 Claims.

invention relates to a skein holder. It. has to do, more particularly, with a holder for a. skein ofyarn or similar material to facilitatev use of the v material without. first winding it into balls or to facilitate winding of the material into balls.

Asis well known, it is customary to wind a skeinof yarn into a ball before using it for knitting, et cetera. Usually, one person must hold the skein. while another person unwinds it and rolls it'into a ball.

It is the main object of this invention to provide a holder for a. skein. of yarn which will hold it insuch a manner as to prevent tangling thereof while-it is-being unwound from the skein and is used directly or is wound into a ball.

Another object of my invention is to provide a skein holder upon which the skein can be mounted quickly and easily.

Another object of my invention is to provide a skein holder which can be adjusted quickly to receive skeins of various lengths.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a skein holder which will keep the skein taut after it is disposed thereon.

Various other objects will be apparent.

According to my invention, my device consists of a mandrel which is rotatably mounted on a suitable stand. This mandrel carries pins adjacent its opposite ends which extend radially therefrom and upon which the ends of the skein may be looped after it is wound helically on the mandrel. The mandrel is so constructed that the pins can be adjusted angularly so that the device can receive skeinsof various lengths. Furthermore, means is associated with the pins for resiliently moving them away from each other to keep the yarn taut.

The preferred embodiment of my invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing wherein similar characters of reference designate corresponding parts and wherein:

Figure 1 is a side perspective view of my skein holder.

Figure 2 is a side elevational view, partly broken away, of the holder.

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view taken.

substantially along line 3--3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is an end perspective view of the holder.

Figure 5 is a schematic view illustrating how the holder is used. I

With reference to the drawing, I have illustrated my holder as comprising a stand II] which includes the upstanding arms II that are provided with bearings I2 on their upper ends. The stand l0 carries the cylindrical member [3 upon which the. skein is, to bev disposed. This cylindrical member i3 is supported by means of a shaft [4 which extends into the bearings 12 and is rotatably disposed therein.

The structure of the member I3 is illustrated best in Figures 2 and 3. It comprises a main sec tion [5 which has av smaller end section It rotatably connected thereto. The rotatable connection includes a telescoping joint I! and friction springs I8. It will be noted that the outer surfaces of the sections 15 and I6 are flush and that thesection It carries the springs 18 on its interior, these springs extending over and engaging the inner surface of the section Hi. This arrangement permits relative rotation of the sections I5" and I6 and will keep such sections in any rotatively adjusted relationship until positively changed. Each of the sections [5 and 16 has a skein-retaining finger l9 associated therewith. These fingers are rotatably mounted by sleeve portions 28, at their inner ends, on the shaft M. The sleeve portions 2|] are axially movable on the shaft l4. One of the pins I 9 extends radially outwardly through a helical slot 2| in the section l5 adjacent its outer end. The other finger I9 extends through a similar helical slot 22 in the section I6 adjacent its outer end. The slots 2| and 22 are substantially parallel and instead of being helical may merely be angular. It will be noted that each pin l 9 is provided with an enlarged knob or head 23 on its outer end. As shown in Figure 3, springs 24 are connected to the inner ends of the pins l9 and are anchored to the corresponding sections of member l5 which carry the pins. These springs are so arranged that they tend to swing the pins IS in opposite directions in the slots 2| and 22.

In the use of this device, the section I5 and the section It are rotated relatively to position the pins l9 at different angular positions around the axis of the shaft l 4. A skein S is mounted on the member l3 and is wrapped around it helically with its ends looped over the angularly spaced pins 19. The relative rotation between the sections l5 and I6, which is maintained by friction springs IE, will be used to cause the skein to be tightened on the cylindrical member l3. This rotation will bring the pins 19 into the ends of the slots 2i and 22 where they will approach each other as far as possible. The springs 24, on the other hand, will function to tend to move the pins 19 into the opposite ends of the slots or in other words, to move the pins l9 farther apart. This will act as resilient means for keeping the yarn of the skein taut.

As shown in Figure 5, the yarn may be used directly from the holder. A pull on the yarn will merely oscillate the member l3 back and forth, as indicated diagrammatically in Figures 3 and 4, the yarn being unwound from the skein without danger of tangling. However, as previously indicated, if desired, the yarn can be rolled into balls.

It will be apparent from the above description that I have provided a simple device for bolding a skein of yarn to permit unwinding thereof without tangling. The device is adjustable for different size skeins and includes automatic means for keeping the yarn taut. The device is extremely simple and can be manufactured at low cost.

Various other advantages will be apparent.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A skein holder comprising a cylindrical mandrel upon which the skein is adapted to be disposed helically, a stand upon which said man drel is mounted for rotation, pins projecting radially from said mandrel adjacent opposite ends thereof, means for adjusting said pins to angularly spaced positions and maintaining them in such positions, means for supporting said pins for movement towards and away from each other, and resilient means tending to move said pins away from each other.

2. A skein holder comprising a cylindrical mandrel upon which the skein is adapted to be disposed helically, a stand for supporting said mandrel, said mandrel being provided with a shaft extending axially therethrough which is ,rotatably mounted in bearings carried by said stand, pins mounted on said shaft for swinging movement about the axis of said shaft and for movement axially of the shaft, said pins extending radially outwardly through slots disposed adjacent the ends of said mandrel, said mandrel being composed of two relatively rotatable sections in which the slots are separately formed, said slots extending helically substantially parallel to each other.

3. A skein holder according to claim 2 wherein springs are connected to said pins for swinging them about the axis of said shaft to move them into the opposite ends of said slots, the ends be- REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 469,687 Felix -Mar. 1, 1892 656,264 Revel Aug. 21, 1900 

